Pages Home Condolences Meetings/Events Congratulations

Three of the 59 men who signed the Declaration of Independence from Mexico were Hispanics: Lorenzo de Zavala Jose Navarro, and his uncle, Francis Ruiz.

Zavala was born in what is now Yucatan, Mexico. Santa Anna appointed him as Mexican minister to France. Zavala realized Santa Anna had no intention of observing the Mexican Constitution of 1824, so he moved his family to Texas and settled on Buffalo Bayou. He served as vice president of the Texas interim government until he resigned Oct. 1836. In Nov. he died. His family cemetery is part of San Jacinto State Park.

Navarro and Ruiz were born in San Antonio, the only two signers who were native born in Texas. Ruiz was a soldier. Shawnee tribe's referred to him as "a good man no lie and a friend of the Indians". He retired from the Mexican military in 1832 and started a school in San Antonio. In 1836, he was a delegate to the Convention. During the revolution he was an outspoken supporter of independence, and eloquently wrote to his family "Under no circumstance take sides against the Texans for only God will return the territory of Texas to the Mexican government." He was a Texas Senator and died in 1840.

PACKED HOUSE ATARCOLA CITY HALL

Arcola residents were concerned about the prospect of two developers who wanted to build apartment buildings in Arcola. The city counsel refused to give permits at this time over concerns of inadequate water and sewage systems.

The meeting room was so full, some were standing out in the hall including James Wark. James was just happy he could stand. When you celebrate your fifth year of being alive after being pronounced dead nine times, standing or sitting is not that big a deal. Being alive is.

JOSH ROSEshot this 185 pound wild hog in Arcola while hunting with his father, Bobby Rose. Josh or Joshua has been hunting for 14 years.

When James Harris played baseball in the streets of New York City, he never dreamed he would some day teach kids in the country of Croatia to play ball. He dreamed of flying and spent 20 years in the U. S. Army Air force during the Korea and Viet Nam conflict retiring from the service as a flight engineer in 1971. Then he became an instructor with Flight Safety International Houston and that is where he met Ellen.

James, better known as J. D. had prayed for some one to come into his life to help him be a better person. He was raised as a Catholic but did not practice it. He did continue to pray, especially when he got in trouble. In the military he had picked up quite a vocabulary and his attitude was “I do it my way.”

The vocabulary changed in a few months as Ellen explained clearly that she was a lady. She was also a teacher and the only time available to date was on Sunday, but on Sunday, she sang at a Methodist church, played the organ at a Baptist church and again on Sunday evening. So J. D. went to church three times every Sunday to be with her. After four months of listening to the Bible being taught, J. D. wanted to go to church for himself. The year they dated, they read through the Bible cover to cover together. Ellen wanted to be sure they were on the same page when it came to essential spiritual matters. He began to understand. In his words, “At the age of 57, I was reborn– a born again Christian.”

In 1993, they got married. J. D. still didn’t believe in giving to the church or in any type of mission work. He was a new believer, and didn’t feel qualified to share Christ, but later he did agree to let Ellen go on a short term mission trip to Ecuador with a group from Southway Community Church.Ellen’s excitement got J. D. hooked. They both served on the mission board at their church. In 2000, a group of 15 planned to go to Kenya Africa. J. D. had a very strange dream. He dreamed that one in the group was not going to be able to go and a voice told him that he would take their place. That was exactly what happened. This time Ellen stayed home while J. D. went. He was 65 years old and, “God lit a fire in me in Kenya,” he says.

While there, a group made the rounds in a hospital in Kijabi. J. D. took a monkey puppet. That just scared the children. But in one isolated room they stepped into, the mother of a boy with meningitis and pneumonia, pointed J. D. out and asked him to pray. The others left and J. D. prayed a short prayer which a nurse interpreted. Then the mother prayed in Swahili. She held onto J. D.’s hands. By the time she finished praying, his hands were soaked with her tears. She asked him to come back twice a day. Each time his hands were washed in her tears. On the fourth day, her son, seven year old Joel, wanted to play. J. D.’s prayers lasted less than a minute or so but he knew he had played a part in a work of God.

The hospital staff made an impression on J. D. as the laundry workers took pride in their work and prayed over every sheet and blanket that was used to cover a patient. The nurses sang gospel songs and sometimes harmonized as they walked from room to room. God made it clear, that J. D. wasn’t there to teach the Kenyans, he was there to learn from them.

When the group left the Moffat hospital they went to a small village where they slept in sleeping bags on a dirt floor in a church. Two Christian women had walked 23 miles to sell a load of wood they had carried on their heads. A woman in the village would buy the wood to bake the pies she sold, but this time she didn’t have any money. The two women asked J. D. to pray for them, but instead of giving them money, God impressed on J. D. they should give money to the woman who needed wood so all three women were helped. The people never asked for money but they did ask for Bibles and prayer.

The fire God lit in J. D.’s heart on that trip to Kenya was hotter than the exhaust pipe on his new motorcycle.

You may be wondering what this has to do with playing baseball. That is coming next month.

“Rules for Radicals”.

By Saul David Alinsky

Alinsky details the eight levels of control that must be obtained in order to create a socialist state.

1. Healthcare: Control healthcare and you control the people.

2. Poverty: Increase the Poverty level as high as possible.

Poor people are easier to control, and will not fight back as

long as you are providing everything they require to live.

(Gigantic Government Plantation For All except our leaders)

3. Debt: Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. In this

way, taxes must increase, and this will produce more poverty.

4. Gun Control: Remove the ability for citizens to defend themselves from the Government. In that way you are able to create a police state.

5.Welfare: Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income).

6. Education: Take control of what children read and do what they are taught in school.

7. Religion: Remove the belief in the God from the Government and schools.

8. Class Warfare: Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent, and it will be easier to tax the wealthy with the support of the poor.

Will we be where the Russian people were when Lenin in essence said, “They have the guns and therefore we are for peace and for reformation through the ballot. When we have the guns then it will be through the bullet.” And it was.

YES ACADEMY ON ANDERSON ROAD IS GROWING

They now have a total enrollment of 689 students. Any one on the waiting list has a chance to attend as names are picked by a lottery system. The senior high student body breaks down as follows:

9th Grade 113 Students 10th Grade 89 Students

11th Grade 50 Students 12th Grade 45 Students

Asian Enrollment (% of total) 1%

Black Enrollment (% of total) 27%

Hispanic Enrollment (% of total) 71%

White Enrollment (% of total) 1%

Male (% of total) 47%

Female (% of total) 53%

Economically Disadvantaged Students 67%

FORT BEND ISD

Possible solutions to fix capacity and zoning problems and projected growth in the state’s seventh largest school district include building additions at Scanlon Oaks, Schiff, and Sienna Crossing and building two or three new elementary schools including one in Sienna South. Ridgemont Elementary, which needs $5.5M in repairs, would be turned into an Early Childhood/Pre-K center. Willowridge High School, which is only at 50% utilization and needs $20M in repairs, would be torn down and a smaller high school built on the same site. Blue Ridge Elementary would be closed and a new elementary school built on the Willowridge site.

WANNA GET MARRIED?

Latest data from the Census Bureau shows that 77.5 percent of families in the top fifth of income earners are headed by married couples. Eight-three percent of families in the lowest fifth are singles or single parent households. According to the president of Center for Urban Renewal and Education, Star Parker, “marriage and traditional values are the bulwark of a free and prosperous society.”

Getting married is easy. Staying married difficult but God has given us an instruction manual called the Bible that gives us guidelines of who to marry and how to stay married.

Some of those guidelines are so romantic. Love one another. That’s easy. Trouble is we think love is a feeling. I Corinthians chap. 13 is a definition of love that isn’t so easy to follow day after day. A guideline in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 says, “Wives submit yourselves to your own husband.” Verse 24 says the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of he church and he is the savior of the body. It does not say that the husband is to make the wife submit, but it does say for husbands to love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Verse 33 - let every one so love his wife even as himself and the wife reverence or respect her husband.

If there is no love or respect in the home, Matthew 5:44 says: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you. Hundreds of other verses will guide you through the rough and the good times.

IRS Audit on Tax Return

The IRS questioned me on how many dependents I claimed. I listed 12 million illegal immigrants; 3 million crack heads; 42 million unemployed people on food stamps, 2 million people in over 243 prisons, 535 persons in the U.S. House and Senate, 11 members of the Supreme Court and one President. Evidently, that was not an acceptable answer. I KEEP ASKING MYSELF, WHO DID I MISS?

Mobile BBQ Kitchen

16 X7 trailer 7ft. Pit/smoker 4 sinks Asking $17,000.

Call 281-451-0538 for more details.

Nalco Champion In Fresno

The plant will change under the Ecolabs ownerships. New office Headquarters are being built in Sugar Land, near the manufacturing plant there. Currently the corporate offices are in the Phoenix Tower on Interstate 59 in Greenway Plaza. Research and Development will also be centered in Sugar Land’s campus, and the Fresno site will be for manufacturing only. For 16 months the site has been injury free with no recordable environmental events since 2011. The plant is growing as a result of the merger with a new approach to manufacturing developed by Toyota being implemented to improve efficiency. New employees have joined the plant, and product lines and process are changing as well.

BRONZE METAL WINNER

Ruby Kluisa, a fifth grade student at Reagan school placed 3rd in competition with fourth through eight grade students from 38 Houston schools. Ruby wants to be a surgeon even though it will mean an extra 8 or 9 years of school. “It will be worth it,” she says.

Reagan School, an older sister, a twin sister, her mom, Kelly, and Dad, Dennis, are all proud of Ruby.

TRADE DAY AT ARCOLA FEED

Chickens pigs, goats, plants, crafts, equipment, etc and etc.

Saturday March 22, 2014 9am –4pm . 6215 FM 521

DEFY THE NIGHT

Defy the Night is an exciting novel based on the true story of how courageous people in a small town in France rescued 3,000 Jewish children from the Nazis during WWII. Defy the Night by Heather and Lydia Munn is a good read. Order online.

FEEDBACK: Got an email from Joyce Scott, daughter of Dollie Scott and niece of Almeda school former principal, Barney Scott. Joyce writes, “Our weather in central New York has been absolutely crazy. No wonder so many northerners move south.” In New York the “snow birds,” establish residency in the south and save a lot in taxes as they don’t have to pay the high taxes up North even though they own a home in New York. Joyce and her husband have lived in central New York for 39 years. Fibromyalgia keeps her from wanting to live where it is warm although her older brother Wally (Sloan) is happy and healthy in Houston. Joyce is looking forwarded to seeing her fourth grandchild. Time flies!

Lone Star Stomp XXI

The 25th anniversary of the Stomp will be held at George Ranch Historical Park Sat. April 12th. All proceeds go to Ft. Bend Co. Museum 281 342 6478. To purchase tickets, become a sponsor, call 281 342 1256 or go to www.fortbendmuseum.org/annual-events/stomp

Almeda moe

Moe’s decided he grab a taxi as he wanted to catch a cheap bus ride to Austin. As the taxi neared the bus station, Moe leaned over to ask the driver a question and gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab. Then, the shaking driver said, "I'm so sorry, but you scared the daylights out of me." Moe apologized, "I didn't realize that a tap on the shoulder would startle you so much." The driver replied, "It's entirely my fault. Today is my first day driving a cab. For the last 23 years I've been driving a hearse."

Condolences

Anne Gene Powell Terry, 102 passed away January 22, 2014. She was with HISD for 30 years and principal at Almeda Elementary during the 1950’s. She had been an active member of Bellaire Presbyterian Church (now Christ Church) since 1941. She was living at Clarewood House.

Doris Evelyn Reagan Jean, 90, passed away on Saturday, January 25, 2014. Doris loved to sing in choir at the Almeda United Methodist Church. A forgiving and generous person, Doris was kind of person one could confide in. Many felt blessed for being in her presence. Preceded in death by her husband, Earnest, Doris is survived by her daughter Nancy.

ALBERTA JANE PETERS, 87, born January 21, 1927 passed away February 24, 2014. While raising six children, Alberta worked side by side with her husband roofing and framing houses. Proud of their mom’s hard work, her children framed her roofing hammer and hung it on the wall. When her husband was injured, he taught wood shop in a school and Alberta became a full time house wife, helping with the finances by raising a garden and canning. When her church at Minnitex merged with Southway, she merged. She loved the Lord with all her might and she loved people. She was disappointed when her health prevented her from helping the church feed food and the gospel to the homeless who met under the bridge at the 59 spaghetti bowl. The homeless were drawn to her, receiving encouragement. Alberta is preceded in death by her husband, Delmar Eugene, two sons, David and Lani. She is survived by four children: Stephen, Barbara, Betty and Kim; 12 grandchildren, 24 greats, 8 great greats and two on the way. Services will be held at Southway Community Church call 713 433 0500 for date and time of the services.

FRESNO WATER BOARD

The water board meets the third Thursday of every month 6 pm at the Mustang Community Center. A lift station for waste water will be located between the Fire Station and Mustang C. C.

Sienna Book Club March 10th at 1:30 pm, discussing Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, written by S.C. Gwynne.

the Booked on Crime Mystery Book Club, Tues. March 25, 7 pm

Mother Goose Time, Tuesdays at 10:00 am, for infants from age 1 month to 12 months. Toddler Time -- Thursdays at 10:00 am -- 12 to 36 months of age. Pre-school children, 3 to 6 Story Time, 10:00 am each Wed.

Pajama Night Story Time at 6:30 pm -- March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31.

Kinder Korner -- 2nd Wed. at 4:00 pm. March 12 will be “V is for Vacation.”

The After-School Break -- crafts, movies, stories, and more for school-aged children in grades 1 through 5 ONLY 4th Thurs. at 4:00 pm, March 27 will be “Sand Art.”

Tween the Pages -- a book club for youth in grades 4 and 5 – 2nd Tuesday, at 4:00 pm.

The Middle-School Program, at 5:30 pm on the 3rd Tues. Mar. 18 “Minute-to-Win-It.”

March 27, at 10:00 am, learn how to set up a blog and ways to earn money by blogging.

Job & Career Accelerator™, Thursday, March 6, beginning at 10:00 am, The Job & Career Accelerator resource can be accessed remotely day or night from a home computer with an Internet connection. A library card barcode number is required to use this resource outside of the library.

Starting Your Own Business, Sat. March 22, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm,

Job-Search Survival Tips, Mon. March 17, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm The series will continue on March 18, at the same place and time. Different topics discussed.

About Me

I was born in Almeda where my grandparents and some great grandparents settled. I started writing a history of the area for the South Post Oak Press and then decided I could write my own paper in 1994 after I had written a book, Back Yonder In Almeda. Then my son, James fixed me up with a blog so I could put Our News on the web.
Our News now reaches down to Fresno and Arcola.